Care City and Community Resources’ pilot project helping people build new relationships is among the first of its kind being delivered by a cross-organisational VCSE sector team. It will collect data to evidence the role of broad community support in bolstering health and well-being.
BD_Collective is a network of networks that have come together to boost social value in the borough by working with residents, businesses and the local council. Although our borough faces its share of challenges, we are determined to improve its social value by partnering up with other organisations that care just as much as we do. BD_Collective aims to make life in this borough better for everyone who works and lives here.
In Barking and Dagenham, every connection counts.
Who are Care City and Community Resources?
Many people who live and work here are doing incredible work and Care City is one of those organisations – a community interest company that does innovative research and implementation in healthy ageing and the determinants of health, they work in partnership with local people and a network of local health and care partners.
Care City helps public services by bringing expertise into areas where they struggle to make progress. Examining challenges around digitisation, productivity, healthcare system reshaping, the future role of communities and the care workforce, they are helping to redesign the landscape of social care and health to work more closely with communities. The health and social care they deliver is of local benefit while being nationally significant, with them attracting investment and innovation to North East London.
Community Resources is a charity rooted in Barking and Dagenham. They believe that relationships are key to everything, and their main aim is to create space for people and organisations to develop connections with one another, thereby reducing social isolation and its associated impacts.
BD_Collective caught up with CareCity’s Senior Project Lead Emily Brook to find out more about the pilot study that aims to address a major issue in the area: loneliness.
What is the pilot project?
Social isolation and loneliness have real repercussions on people’s sense of well-being and overall health and this new project will delve into the loneliness epidemic being experienced in the borough. Recent research indicates that this Borough is the second loneliest in London.
Commissioned by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council, led by Care City and Community Resources, on behalf of the BD Collective and with design support from Ageable, the not-for-profits are teaming up to run a design and people-led process showcasing that building a sense of belonging has a crucial positive impact on people being moved back into their home environments after a hospital stay and that its absence harms people’s mental and physical recovery.
Health transitions are often overwhelming and international research indicates that taking care of an individual’s holistic needs through relational working during transitional times helps them to recover quicker and with fewer setbacks.
Who will they be helping?
This pilot aims to help anyone struggling with the transition back into their home life after a stay in hospital. Launched on the 1st of July 2024, the study aims to work with one hundred people over a year initially, to ensure this life event is made easier.
Grounded in research – national, international, and from stories that local people have shared, the informal care and support surrounding people during difficult life transitions can often be more significant to their recovery than healthcare services in isolation.
This pilot by no means discounts a person’s need for medical attention but aims to glean data by assisting people with individualised needs that may otherwise slip through the system of care historically provided. This is not all based on social support groups or hobby clubs but aims to ensure that certain practicalities are provided for, and that support for each person is designed specifically to their hopes and strengths, as well as their needs.
Real-life example:
There have been cases where people have been recovering well in the hospital and are ready to continue at home but may require a course of antibiotics that need to be refrigerated. Upon return home, the transport workers discover that this person doesn’t have a fridge. At this point, they return to the hospital which is a negative outcome for everyone – hospital stays come at a significant cost to the NHS, and additional, lengthy, unnecessary hospital time is often a catastrophe for the person experiencing it.
The assumption being tested here is that relational care takes into account all an individual’s hopes and needs, and prioritises them on the same level of importance as their healthcare service. The truth is our individual needs vary hugely and are deeply personal. While some people may be comforted by joining a local knitting club, another person may be equally happy with having access to a reliable internet connection to communicate with their loved ones.
Although these community-met needs often aren’t considered when someone has experienced a major health event, it is arguable that a feeling of belonging and having people you can rely on is more important to your recovery than healthcare services in isolation.
What does the project ultimately hope to achieve?
This project aims to compile a body of work that evidences the extent to which alleviating loneliness and creating a sense of belonging has positive health and well-being benefits. Using case studies and data compiled from this trial, the project will share learning more widely, to help other places create widespread and lasting change for people battling with loneliness.
Social value is intrinsic to communities’ and individuals well-being and through research-led evidence, they hope to have an impact on the way communities are served by its members.
How can people get involved?
We’ll be working with organisations (big and small) from across the BD_Collective throughout the project, to share what we’re learning, and find the best places for the people we’re supporting to build connections. Emily Brook also reinforces the idea that being intentional with your kindness is an important contribution in its own right, “We can all play a role in helping to make things feel a bit less lonely. Whether it is smiling at someone in the street or getting involved in a local community organisation by sharing your skills or time… Be a conscious and intentional friend to the people that you love.”
If you would like to get involved, please follow the progress of the project and reach out directly to the partnering organisations if you feel you can help.
BD_Collective: https://bdcollective.co.uk/
Care City: https://www.carecity.org/
Community Resources: https://communityresources.co.uk/
Ageable: https://www.ageable.org/
Humourisk: https://www.humourisk.co.uk/
Independent Living Agency: https://www.independentlivingagency.org/
Harmony House: https://www.harmonyhousedagenham.org.uk/
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